Recruitments by Amazon have risen 25% over last year and it’s visiting more than 50 engineering campuses and 40 b-schools, the company told ET.

Engineering colleges and business schools are among the most important talent-hunting grounds for companies.

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The battle between Amazon India and Flipkart has moved to campuses, with early hiring trends suggesting a head start for the US company.

Amazon is powering ahead to become the largest ecommerce recruiter in India in terms of intake, salaries, variety of roles offered and even student interest, according to initial placement data at leading engineering colleges and business schools — among the most important talent-hunting grounds for companies.

Recruitments by Amazon have risen 25% over last year and it’s visiting more than 50 engineering campuses and 40 B-schools, the company told ET.

“Amazon’s presence in India has grown significantly over the past few years and the hiring numbers are keeping pace accordingly,” a spokesperson said in an email. Amazon does not reveal recruitment figures.

By contrast, Flipkart is back on campuses after skipping placement seasons at the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management (IITs, IIMs) for the class of 2017 and its numbers are much lower than its rival so far.

Campus officials also said perceptions of Flipkart were affected by the company delaying joining dates for recruits from the batch of 2016. Recruitments are currently on for those finishing next year.

“There is still some hesitation among students about opting for Flipkart,” said a placement team member at IIM-Bangalore, where Amazon made 27 offers during summer placements compared with five by Flipkart. “We have spoken to the company on this issue and that has instilled some confidence among students.”

Flipkart used to be among the most high-profile recruiters, hiring 200-250 students from IITs and IIMs each year. Although it raised over $4 billion this year, the homegrown online retailer appears to be going slow compared with Amazon, based on data from leading B-schools and non-IIT engineering institutes. A Flipkart spokesperson said the company would not comment on the matter.

During final placements at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Flipkart made five offers at the Goa campus. Amazon made 14 across the Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. The annual salary offered at BITS by Amazon was Rs 27.8 lakh, while that of Flipkart was Rs 23.8 lakh.

The trend was evident at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. “Flipkart did not visit this year. Amazon has been a regular visitor at NITT. This year, it made 11offers, compared with nine offers last year,” said AK Bakthavatsalam, head of training and placement at the institute.

There could be other factors at play. Flipkart may be changing strategy and opting for more lateral hires instead of campus recruitments, said Anil Kumar, CEO of market research and advisory firm RedSeer Consulting. “Otherwise, from the growth perspective, the two companies’ manpower requirements wouldn’t be too different,” said Kumar. He said Amazon was likely to give students options to eventually move into global roles.

“The runway for students is much better at Amazon,” he added.

Campus officials said Amazon offered a greater variety of roles than Flipkart, with positions across product management, operations, category management and sales, among others.

“Hiring appetite has grown for tech as well as non-tech roles,” said the Amazon spokesperson. “We see growth across levels as per our talent requirements. Also, in our experience, interns do extremely well when they return to join us for full-time roles. Our focus will be to continue building on the internship pipeline, too.”

Amazon has invested heavily in its Indian marketplace since launching operations in the country in 2013, the most recent being an infusion of Rs 2,900 crore earlier this month.